Follow Us

More

Top 10 Reasons Tony Romo Should Be MVP

The regular names are still being thrown around: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers. These Super Bowl-winning men, like most years, are highly valuable to their respective teams, and with the season at an end, talk has reached a peak about who exactly is most valuable.

This year, there is a new contender, a man in the past much maligned and one coming in with extra baggage who has seemingly been ignored or at least brushed off in the talk for MVP. However, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo shouldn’t only be considered in the conversation for Most Valuable Player in the NFL, he should be leading the way, and win.

The narrative around Romo has often entailed poor performance in December, as the Cowboys QB will never be able to live down past embarrassments. It also involves talking about the collaborative big names around him, including his larger than life owner Jerry Jones as well as stars DeMarco Murray and Dez Bryant. What’s more, despite being the quarterback on America’s most popular (and polarizing) team, Romo never gets enough credit.

That’s because he isn’t the media darling other quarterbacks are. He doesn’t do commercials like some stars (Manning, Rodgers), he doesn’t go on radio to tell fans to ‘relax’ and suddenly become some folk hero (Rodgers), and he doesn’t curse on the sidelines and get fired up (Brady). For some reason, everyone warms to these guys but not Romo: his bar is set much higher.

He does get excited, he does get passionate, he just doesn’t have the same wild look to him and unfortunately enough, that appearance comes into play. He isn’t considered an elite quarterback and that’s wrong.

What follows are the reasons that Romo has been unfairly analyzed and why he should not only be considered, but be awarded the Most Valuable Player this year in the NFL.

3 Romo Helps the Ground Game

Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

2 Romo is the Cowboys MVP

Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

1 Romo is Clutch

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

After a division loss on Thanksgiving, Romo and the Cowboys won four straight, all in December, to end the season and take the NFC East. Romo would throw 12 touchdowns and just one interception in that span (the lone pick was to Washington in the second half of a blow out). His passer rating in the second half of games is 117, and in the final two minutes, his rating is a point and a half higher. What’s more, Romo has fourth quarter winning drives on the road at New York and Seattle, and an overtime drive that saw the Cowboys beat the Texans. His QB rating has gotten better each month, and in December it’s at a staggering 133. You can just go down the line with every statistic that describes clutch play, trailing by a score, playing late in the game, and Romo is stellar. The biggest knock against the Cowboys and Romo over the last few years was that they wilt under pressure: not anymore.